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This report finds that in developing countries over the past 15 years, high priority was accorded to increasing enrolments in primary schools, but much less attention was directed to the crucial issue of whether children are learning adequately. The report recommends that countries, the World Bank and development partners give the same emphasis to learning outcomes as to access, so that the world's increasing investments in primary education have a far greater impact on poverty reduction and national development. The World Bank is the largest provider of external financial support to education in developing world. Since 1963, it has transferred about US$36.5 billion for education, over $14 billion of which has been for primary education. Its current lending portfolio consists of about 143 operations in 88 countries amounting to US$8.4 billion. (DIPF/Orig.).

As in most countries worldwide, Sub-Saharan African countries are striving to build their human capital so they can compete for jobs and investments in an increasingly globalized world. In this region, which includes the largest number of countries that have not yet attained universal primary schooling, the ambitions and aspirations of Sub-Saharan African countries and their youth far exceed this basic goal. Over the past 20 years, educational levels have risen sharply across Sub-Saharan Africa. Already hard at work to provide places in primary schools for all children, most countries of the region are also rapidly expanding access to secondary and tertiary levels of education. Alongside this quantitative push is a growing awareness of the need to make sure that students are learning and acquiring the skills needed for life and work. Achieving education of acceptable quality is perhaps an even greater challenge than providing enough school places for all. Thus, Sub-Saharan African countries are simultaneously confronting many difficult challenges in the education sector, and much is at stake. This book gives those concerned with education in Sub-Saharan Africa an analysis of the sector from a cross-country perspective, aimed at drawing lessons that individual country studies alone cannot provide. A comparative perspective is useful not only to show the range of possibilities in key education policy variables but also to learn from the best performers in the region. (Although the report covers 47 Sub- Saharan African countries whenever possible, some parts of the analysis center on the region's low-income countries, in particular, a sample of 33 low-income countries). Although countries ultimately must make their own policy choices and decide what works best in their particular circumstances, Sub-Saharan African countries can benefit from learning about the experiences of other countries that are faced with, or have gone through, similar development paths. Given the large number of countries included in the analysis, the book finds that Sub-Saharan African countries have more choices and more room for maneuver than will appear if attention were focused on only one or a few country experiences. Countries can make better choices when understanding the breadth of policy choices available to them. They are well advised, however, to evaluate the applicability of policy options to their contexts and to pilot and evaluate the results for performance and subsequent improvement.

This book gathers in one volume all the information needed to use ADePT Edu, the software platform created by the World Bank for the reporting and analysis of education indicators and education inequality. It includes a primer on education data availability, an operating manual for the software, a technical explanation of all the education indicators generated, and an overview of global education inequality using ADePT Edu. The World Bank developed ADePT Edu to fill the need for a user-friendly program designed to give everyone the ability to organize and analyze education data from households. ADePT Edu can be used with any household survey with the aid of its user friendly interface, generating education tables and graphics that comply with international standards for performance indicators. Because this volume is a compendium its chapters can be consulted independently of each other, depending on the need of users.

All countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face the prospect of a substantial increase in the number of primary school completers in the coming years. Although initial conditions vary widely from country to country, this increase will inevitably intensify pressure on the education system, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. African countries may thus find it timely to align their education policies and strategies to the emerging challenges. A key goal is to ensure that the education system continues to develop in an efficient, equitable, and fiscally sustainable manner even as it expands to accommodate the rising numbers seeking a place in secondary and tertiary education. The rest of this report is organized as follows. Chapter two elaborates the policy context for education development in SSA. Chapter three explains the methodology and data sources. Chapter four examines the challenges and constraints posed by the sheer volume of increases in enrollments in post-primary education with which most education systems in SSA must grapple in the coming years. Taking these constraints into account, the report evaluates the scope for policy development from three perspectives in the subsequent chapters: the coverage of education systems (chapter five), the quality and cost of service delivery (chapter six), and the division of financing by public and private sources (chapter seven). The fiscal implications of plausible policy packages that SSA countries might consider are assessed in chapter eight. Chapter nine seems up the general conclusions of the report.

This report, produced with the help of Madagascar’s national education team in 2006-07, is designed to contribute to ongoing education reform discussions. It analyzes the constraints to system expansion and presents possible next steps for an appropriate course of action. This report aims to encourage discussion among policymakers, stakeholders and donors, and does not promote one approach over another. To promote a more competitive economy in Madagascar in the 21st century, the government expects to increase the average years of schooling from the current 4.5 years to about 9-10 years by 2015 for the relative age groups. This report discusses the ongoing reform and its impact and provides suggestions for implementation. This report is intended to be used as a discussion instrument and to be disseminated among Madagascar’s stakeholders in education. We hope this report will contribute to improved implementation of the secondary education reform in Madagascar.This study was prepared as part of the Secondary Education and Training in Africa (SEIA) initiative which aims to assist countries to develop sustainable strategies for expansion and quality improvements in secondary education and training.

The main objective of this regional report is to provide an in-depth diagnosis of where Central American countries stand along several education dimensions, underscoring the most urgent and serious challenges, and suggesting policy options to address them. This is the first attempt at providing a comprehensive quantification of educational outcomes in four comparable Central American countries: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. The report identifies three urgent priorities for improving Central American education systems: improving learning, reaching universal primary completion, and expanding secondary coverage. In response to identified barriers to learning, the report details some key areas of policy intervention, which include the improvement of national assessment systems, the enhancement of teacher performance, and the diversification of teaching methodologies. The main policy recommendations for improving completion are to strengthen and improve the existing supply-side interventions (multigrade schooling, school-based management, bilingual education, and so forth), while also applying effective demand-side policies and broader interventions. Finally, when analyzing specific policy options to increase secondary coverage, the report concludes that only a comprehensive policy package (including higher budget shares for secondary education and interventions such as flexible delivery mechanisms, demand-side subsidies, and basic education centers) will successfully overcome the range of constraints facing secondary enrollment.

The Homegrown School Feeding Program Intervention (HGSFPI) is one of the most powerful tools for combating malnutrition and addressing economic and gender inequality. Hence, this study aims to analyze the long-term effects of the HGSFPI on the school outcomes via balanced macro panel data covering the years 1974 to 2023. Panel endogenous switching regression (PESRM) and difference-in-differences (DID) models were used to estimate covariate relationships and policy effect sizes, respectively. The PESRM results indicate that an increase in the pupil-to-teacher ratio increases the rate of dropout and reduces persistence in primary school, probably because of an overcrowded teaching system and fewer contacts per student. However, increased availability of electricity increases educational persistence by increasing the number of hours spent studying and improving facilities in schools. Furthermore, fertilizer application and the food production index increase the rates of completion and enrollment because enhanced food security reduces malnutrition and enhances school attendance. Moreover, increased agricultural productivity indirectly leads to higher household incomes, and improved school enrollment. Similarly, school feeding and rural infrastructure development also contribute to increasing schooling enrollment through enhanced access to and regularity of meals. Consequently, the DID model results show that the intervention decreased the rate of dropout by 10.9% and increased completion, persistence, and attendance rates by 14.2%, 4.6%, and 21.5%, respectively, which suggests the effectiveness of the policy intervention. Thus, increasing policy intervention in treated and control unit regions will facilitate education achievements and sustainable human capital development through poverty and hunger alleviation in a viable manner. JEL Classification: i25, i28, O15, q18, C23.

This review was prepared jointly by the World Bank Group and the World Food Programme (WFP), building on the comparative advantages of both organizations. It examines the evidence base for school feeding programs with the objective of better understanding how to develop and implement effective school feeding programs in two contexts: a productive safety net, as part of the response to the social shocks of the global food, fuel and financial crises, and a fiscally sustainable investment in human capital, as part of long-term global efforts to achieve Education for All and provide social protection to the poor.